It is a standardized and optimal method in the practice of medicine today to place a "central venous catheter" (CVC) tip within the superior vena cava in the region of the junction of the superior vena cava and the atrium proper of the heart. This area has among the greatest volume of venous blood flow in the body outside the heart which maximizes drug dilution and makes it the safest place in the circulatory system to administer most medications. When a catheter or probe is being placed in a human body, there is generally no aid in determining the path of the placement other than by intimate knowledge of the body part and by touch and feel or extraction of bodily fluid. A X-ray, sonogram or similar diagnostic device, however, is used to confirm the location of a CVC for example, near the heart so as to rule out accidental placement into the heart which is often lethal, or into a lung, which often causes another serious complication such as a collapsed lung (pneumothorax). The time required of such X-ray confirmation delays the use of such a central line catheter even in life threatening situations, and also impinges on the time necessary to prevent ultimate death in a patient resulting from a catheter tip that has perforated the wall of the heart during the placement procedure. According to a July, 1989 U.S. Food and Drug Administration report, there are approximately 3 million CVC placement procedures conducted annually in the United States and it has been estimated that "complications occur in 5% to 20% these procedures (1). This report further states, "the catheter tip should not be placed in, or allowed to migrate into the heart (from within a major vessel, a vessel or blood vessel or circulatory vessel is defined as a vein or artery). Catheter tip position should be confirmed by x-ray or other imaging modality and be rechecked periodically. Central venous catheterization must be performed by trained personnel well-versed in anatomical land marks, safe technique, and potential complications. " The most serious life threatening complications occur from the inadvertent placement of a CVC beyond the superior vena cava into the heart.